Construction of sporting articles



Feb. 27, 1934. P. v. PAUL CONSTRUCTION OF SPORTING ARTICLES Original Filed Jan. 7, 1931 Patented Feb. 27, 1934 PATENT? OFFICE CONSTRUCTION OF SPORTING ARTICLES Percy Vincent Paul, West Concord, Sydney, Australia Application January 7,

1931, Serial No. 507,228,

and in Australia March '7, 1930. Renewed ctober 27, 1933 2 Claims.

This invention relates to improved forms of construction of cricket and baseball bats, hockey and vigoro sticks, croquet mallets, clubs, and similar sporting articles in which a relatively broad wooden striking face is used for striking a ball,

and has been devised to prevent or reduce warping and the usual splitting, cracking, or breaking of the striking surface, to facilitate repair when necessary, to reduce the amount of wastage involved in ordinary methods of construction, and to produce an article that will withstand greater stresses and give more effective service and longer use than similar articles of usual construction. In accordance with my invention I form the strildng face or the whole of the blade or body of the article from strips of any suitable material such as willow wood, lightwood, ash, hickory, or the like, the strips being firmly secured to each other, and to a core when the later is used, by known types of high quality glue such as casein glue for example, without the use of dowels, bolts, pins, or the like. The material forming the strips of the cores and or backing plates may be of difierent quality, weight, and species from those forming the striking face, thus enabling a large saving of good quality material to be made; for example the striking face of a cricket bat may be formed from strips of high quality willow and.

the core and backing from ash.

Individual strips, whether in the striking face or in the body, may be separated from each other and from the strips in the adjacent layer by interposing a layer of blow resisting or blow absorbing material such as greenhide, three-ply wood, rubher, canvass, or the like to which the strips on each face of the blow resisting material are secured by casein glue or the like. The grain of the wood used in the strips is arranged to give the maximum presistance to shock or deformation 4e and may be arranged perpendicularly to the striking face.

In the accompanying drawing which illustrate several applications of the invention:-

Fig. l is a cross sectional elevation of a cricket bat blade;

Fig. 2 is a similar view of another form of cricket bat blade;

Fig. 3 is a similar view of a third form of cricket bat blade;

Fig. 4 is a similar View of another form of cricket bat blade;

Fig. 5 is a similar view of a baseball bat;

Fig. 6 is a similar view of a hockey stick blade;

Fig. '7 is a similar view of another form of hockey stick blade.

As illustrated in Fig. 1 a core is formed of longitudinal wooden strips 10, the adjoining faces of the strips being correspondingly bevelled to give a relatively large area of contact, indicated by the lines 11, for gluing. On the front face of the core are glued longitudinal strips 12 of suitable wood such as high class willow. These strips are secured to each other and to the core by casein glue or the like.

On the rear face of the core is glued a longitudinal backing strip 13. The laminated structure thus formed is placed under pressure and when the glue has set the rough blade is shaped to the required dimensions and finished off.

The blade may be formed in stages, pressure being applied in the formation of the core, then in the application of the strips 12 to each other and to the core, and finally in the application of the backing piece 13. The order of application of the strips 10, 12, and 13 may be varied as desired.

In the form illustrated in Fig. 2 the core is omitted. Longitudinal strips 14 are shaped with relatively broad contacting surfaces, indicated by the lines 15, to fit against each other, casein glue is applied between the surfaces, and the laminated blade held under pressure until the glue has set. The blade is then shaped and finished off.

The surfaces indicated by the lines 15 are positioned at an acute angle to the striking face in order that the effects of a blow may not be transmitted wholly to the glued surfaces. A similar disposition of the glued surfaces to the striking faces may be applied to other sporting articles.

In the form illustrated in Fig. 3 the strips 12 forming the striking face are thicker and wider than the corresponding strips 12 of Fig. 1, and their contacting faces, indicated by the lines 16, are bevelled to give a relatively large gluing area and lie at an acute angle to the striking face. The core layer is formed of strips with contacting faces, indicated by the lines 17, disposed in the opposite direction to those of the adjacent strips in the striking face. This core is supported at the rear by a longitudinal plate 18 which in turn is backed by two relatively thick triangular sectioned strips 19.

In the bat blade illustrated in Fig. 4 the striking face is formed of strips 12 similar to those of Fig. 3, the core layer consists of approximately rectangular sectioned strips 20, and a blow resisting layer 21, consisting of greenhide, three-ply wood, rubber, or the like, is positioned between the strips 12 and 20 and is secured to each of these strips by glue. The backing piece consists of three relatively thick wood strips 22.

The baseball bat indicated in Fig. 5 has a core which may be formed of a central column of wood or other suitable material or be formed of strips 23 glued to each other. Longitudinal strips 24 of ash or other wood are positioned on the outer faces of the core and are glued to each other and to the core.

The striking faces of the hockey sticks (Figs. 6 and '7) are formed of wood strips 25 glued to each other and to the backing piece which is also built up of individual strips 26.

Each of the strips used in the construction of striking faces, cores, and backing pieces may be, and preferably are, rolled or compressed before application, and the grain of the wood forming the strips 12, 14, 24, 25 may be arranged perpendicularly to the striking faces.

I claim:

1. A sporting article having a relatively broad striking face formed of strips of wood adhesively secured together at abutting sides disposed at acute angles to the surface of the face, and a core secured to said face strips and formed of strips of wood adhesively secured together at abutting sides disposed at acute angles in the opposite direction.

2. A sporting article having a relatively broad striking face formed of strips of wood adhesively secured together at abutting sides disposed at acute angles to the surface of the face, a core secured to said face strips and formed of strips of wood adhesively secured together at abutting sides disposed at acute angles in the opposite direction, and a longitudinal backing secured to said core.

PERCY VINCENT PAUL. 

